Your experiences and Amazon’s Leadership Principles
Amazon’s Leadership Principles are used to guide business in almost every way. Amazon Software Development Engineers use our Leadership Principles every day, whether
we’re discussing ideas for new projects or deciding on the best approach to solving a problem.
A significant portion of the interview will be dedicated to understanding how you’ve already been demonstrating our Leadership Principles. Complete the steps below to
reflect on how you’ve applied the Leadership Principles in your professional experiences.
Step 1. List your significant professional moments. List 10-15 significant professional experiences you’ve had. This includes everything from the goals achieved and risks
taken to how you’ve failed and grown in the process. Don’t worry about the details right now – just focus on triggering your memory. If you’re having trouble, consider
looking through your resume, prioritizing experiences from your most recent positions.
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11.
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15.
Step 2. Recall the specifics. Interviewers will be diving deep into these examples, so it’s best to refresh your memory ahead of time. We suggest using the STAR framework
to recall the details. Complete the table below for the first significant professional moment you listed in step 1. Repeat for each moment.
Significant professional moment #1
STAR framework
Ask yourself
Situation
What was the context/background for the situation you were in?
Where did it occur, when did it happen?
What was the goal?
Task
Action
Result
What was your role?
What were you trying to achieve?
Why was it important?
What were the risks/consequences if nothing happened?
What did you personally own?
How did you do it? How did you influence the outcome?
Who else was involved?
What was the most significant obstacle you faced?
How did you measure success for this project?
What results did you achieve? (e.g., metrics)
What trade-offs did you have to make to achieve this?
What did you learn or would have done differently?
Details
Your experiences and Amazon’s Leadership Principles
Step 3. Consider the Leadership Principles. Now that the details are fresh, consider which of the 16 Leadership Principles you demonstrated in each significant professional
moment. It’s likely that there are multiple Leadership Principles involved in each moment. All the Leadership Principles definitions are included in the next pages of this
guide for your convenience.
You may notice that your experiences have not covered all 16 Leadership Principles – that’s to be expected. Take some additional time to read through any non-covered
Leadership Principles to see if it makes you think of an additional professional moment to add to your step 1 list.
Significant professional moment
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Leadership Principle(s) demonstrated
Next Steps. You’re ready to demonstrate to your interviewers how you’ve already applied the Leadership Principles in your professional experiences. Feel free to bring your
short list of significant professional moments to the interview, with the following tips in mind:
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Answer the interviewers’ questions. Don’t try to squeeze in an example from your list if it doesn’t really address what the interviewer is asking.
Don’t read from a script. This guide walks you through the exercise of remembering your significant professional moments in detail. Don’t become dependent on
them and end up reading to your interviewer.
Remain flexible. The interviewer will be asking follow-up questions or prompting for additional details throughout your answer.
Use a range of examples. All else being equal, use different significant professional moments with your interviewers to demonstrate a range of experiences.
Use recent examples. All else being equal, prioritize sharing your most recent experiences.
Leadership Principles
Leadership Principle
Description
Customer Obsession
Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders
pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.
Ownership
Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the
entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say, “that’s not my job."
Invent and Simplify
Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally
aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here." As we do new things, we accept that we
may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
Are Right, A Lot
Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm
their beliefs.
Learn and Be Curious
Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to
explore them.
Hire and Develop the Best
Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them
throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our
people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice.
Insist on the Highest Standards
Leaders have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are
continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that
defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
Think Big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think
differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.
Leadership Principles
Bias for Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk
taking.
Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for
growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.
Earn Trust
Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is
awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves
and their teams against the best.
Dive Deep
Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ.
No task is beneath them.
Have Backbone; Disagree and
Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting.
Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is
determined, they commit wholly.
Deliver Results
Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite
setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.
Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer
Leaders work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment.
They lead with empathy, have fun at work, and make it easy for others to have fun. Leaders ask themselves: Are my fellow
employees growing? Are they empowered? Are they ready for what's next? Leaders have a vision for and commitment to their
employees' personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere.
Success and Scale Bring Broad
Responsibility
We started in a garage, but we're not there anymore. We are big, we impact the world, and we are far from perfect. We must be
humble and thoughtful about even the secondary effects of our actions. Our local communities, planet, and future generations
need us to be better every day. We must begin each day with a determination to make better, do better, and be better for our
customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large. And we must end every day knowing we can do even more
tomorrow. Leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them.